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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C.
Litigation Release No. 15261 / February 18, 1997
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION V. STERLING FOSTER &
COMPANY, INC., ADAM LIEBERMAN, CRAIG KELLERMAN,
FRANK MONROIG, AND DENNIS RUEB,97 Civ. 1077 (LMM) (S.D.N.Y.)
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that
on Friday, February 14, 1997, it filed an action in federal court
in Manhattan alleging that a Long Island, New York broker-dealer
and four of its employees, including its president, its sales
manager, and its head trader, obtained at least $75 million in
connection with the manipulation of securities of six issuers.
Named in the Complaint were:
Sterling Foster & Company, Inc. ("Sterling Foster"), a
registered broker-dealer based in Melville, New York, which
has been in operation since June 1994;
Adam Lieberman ("Lieberman"), 30 years old and a
resident of Roslyn Heights, New York, who is the
founder, president and sole shareholder of Sterling
Foster;
Craig Kellerman ("Kellerman"), 35 years old and a
resident of Nesconset, New York, who has been Sterling
Foster's head trader since June 1994;
Frank Monroig ("Monroig"), 35 years old and a resident
of Nissequoque, New York, who has been associated with
Sterling Foster since June 1994 and who has been its
sales manager since January 1995; and
Dennis Rueb ("Rueb"), 24 years old and a resident of
Seaford, New York, who has been associated with
Sterling Foster since 1994 as a registered
representative.
In its Complaint, the Commission seeks permanent injunctive
relief, disgorgement and prejudgment interest and civil penalties
against all defendants. The Commission also seeks a temporary
restraining order and a preliminary injunction against Sterling
Foster, Lieberman, Kellerman, and Monroig, as well as the
appointment of a special compliance monitor for Sterling Foster
during the pendency of this action.
Sterling Foster, Lieberman, Kellerman, and Monroig, without
admitting or denying the allegations in the Complaint, consented
to the entry of an order temporarily restraining them from
violating various antifraud provisions of the federal securities
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laws and appointing a special compliance monitor for Sterling
Foster.
The Complaint alleges that:
Between October 1994 and the present, Sterling Foster,
Lieberman, and Kellerman manipulated the price of securities
of the following public companies: Lasergate Systems Inc.,
Advanced Voice Technologies, Inc., Com/Tech Communication
Technologies, Inc., Embryo Development Corp., Applewoods,
Inc. and ML Direct, Inc., and sold these securities at
artificially inflated prices to investors. Lieberman and
Monroig trained Sterling Foster representatives to induce
customers to purchase these securities by using a series of
"boiler-room" sales practices, including misrepresenting to
customers that: (1) Sterling Foster had inside information
about the issuers of these securities that was soon to be
announced publicly; (2) the prices of these securities would
reach certain targets within a few days; (3) registered
representatives were not earning any compensation on
purchases of these securities by customers; and (4) no
prospectuses were available relating to these securities.
Sterling Foster, Lieberman and Kellerman charged
customers undisclosed excessive markups of at least $75
million on the customers' purchases of these securities.
Once these customers were duped into making the purchases,
Sterling Foster, Lieberman, Monroig and Rueb prevented the
customers from selling the securities. Furthermore, Rueb
misrepresented to his customers, when asked about the status
of sell orders, that such orders had been executed when, in
fact, they were not.
In its Complaint, the Commission alleges that Sterling
Foster, Lieberman, Kellerman, Monroig and Rueb violated Section
17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), and
Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange
Act") and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. In addition, the Commission
alleges that Sterling Foster violated Section 15(c) of the
Exchange Act and Rules 10b-3, 10b-6, 15c1-2 and 15c1-8; Lieberman
violated Exchange Act Rule 10b-6 and is liable, as a controlling
person under Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act, for Sterling
Foster's violations of Sections 10(b) and 15(c) of the Exchange
Act and Rules 10b-3, 15c1-2 and 15c1-8; and Kellerman violated
Exchange Act Rule 10b-6.
The litigation is pending.
The Commission thanks the National Association of Securities
Dealers for its assistance in this matter.